The press said that Johnny “had it all.” And so he did. Unfortunately, “having it all” means having the bad parts of life as well as the good, not an ideal state of affairs for a person who trusts everyone.

In my experience, if you trust everyone, you will be right 80% of the time. The heartaches and ulcers and sleepless nights come from the other 20%. These other 20% include vampire personalities who do not or will not produce anything on their own, and so need to lead their parasitic existence living off of whatever productive individual they can attach themselves to — you, for instance — and so begin to pleasantly or not-so pleasantly suck your life and your sanity away, while they engorge themselves on your patience, your understanding nature, your money, your good name, your skills, your contacts, your resources, your credibility, your aspirations and any joyful future you thought you had.

They Specialize in Being Easily Offended

These people, specialize in being easily offended. Nothing is ever their fault — it’s all been done to them. So one tends to walk on eggshells around them. Any slightest slight becomes magnified to the nuclear power, so that, even though they are a distinct minority in your life, they dominate your thoughts and concerns and worries to the point of exasperation or apathy.

Johnny was unfortunate enough to get entangled with such people. Yes, he “had it all.”

Johnny’s story, then, is also a cautionary tale to any young Mozarts as they begin to flex and realize their artistic powers as it is the artists and the productive people in the world who attract these vampire types. Johnny would want to help in that way. He loved helping other artists in whatever way he could. (Even in prison, he met a fine artist whose work he had known. He urged me to set aside some money to purchase a painting from the man, which I did.)

Possibly, if you are an artist or any productive person who seeks to cause positive change, you may recall a brush or two you may have had with a vampire type. Some are very good at what they do, unfortunately.